Directions to Flamingo Beach
& Playa Potrero
The trip from San Jose to the beach takes a little over four hours, about twenty minitues less from the international Airport. Best time to leave is early in the morning, 6 to 7 am, before the police come out. Worst time is 3 pm in the rain.
You follow the Pan American highway, a mostly two laned road that goes from North to south, and which is generally well maintained. Go north from San Jose, following signs for "Frontera Nicaragua, and Libera. You will go through the Central Valley the first hour, then the mountains the next hour, with lots of curves and bumps and slow logging trucks. Then an hour of rolling flatlands where you will go passed the canas on your way to Liberia. Two good restaurants on the way are the Rincon Corobici, along side a river about 60km before Liberia, and Bramadero, a steakhouse, off the main cross roads in Liberia. Gas up the car in Liberia at the intersection with the four gas stations. This is also where you turn left to head to Flamingo and Potrero. The last stage takes a little over an hour, and is the only part of the trip where you can get lost. Drive passed Filadelfia, through a town called Belen and just outside of Belen, turn right at the signs for Flamingo. If you get to Santa Cruz--you missed the Flamingo turoff. Look at your roadmap to see about where this turnoff is. The last 40 minutes you follow winding country roads, turning right at the Huacas road fork, with the goal of getting to Brasilito. Brasilito is where you first see the ocean , and it's as good as any spot to get drinks for the last 5km's to Flamingo. You keep going passed Brasilito, on the only paved road, about 3km's to the Flamingo turnoff on the left, or keep going straight 2km's on unpaved road to Surfside or 7 more to Sugar Beach. The last 2km's are on the wrong side of the moon. You will think you're lost, but keep going. A KM is 6/10ths of a mile. On bad road it seems like 5 miles. The Flamingo Villas are on the left right before downtown Flamingo, on the south part of the beach, where all the construction is.
